PUTRAJAYA: Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad yesterday said he did not know about a sex video purportedly involving a Cabinet minister that has gone viral.

"I do not know anything. I have just heard, I would have to read up on it," Dr Mahathir said in response to a question by a reporter at a press conference.

The video and photos where two men - including one that resembles a Cabinet minister - appeared to be engaging in sexual acts were spread via WhatsApp on Monday morning, reported The Star.

The Malaysiakini news website said the video and pictures were shared in a number of WhatsApp group chats with reporters. The authenticity of the images could not be verified. Participants in the group chats included several Sabah and Sarawak Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) leaders, the website reported.

Among the names listed as creators of the group chats were "Tian Chua" and "Saifuddin Abdullah".

PKR vice-president Tian Chua, who was attending a conference in Geneva, told Malaysiakini that the group chat did not belong to him while fellow PKR member, Foreign Affairs Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, also said he was not the person behind the WhatsApp group.

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"The said person is masquerading around in the WhatsApp groups and we will let the authorities investigate this matter," he told the website.

In a related development, Umno supreme council member Lokman Noor Adam has lodged a police report over the images, The Star reported.

Mr Lokman arrived at the district police headquarters in Putrajaya at around 3pm yesterday to lodge the report.

While he did not name any names, he told the media that it was clear which politician one of the men in the video resembled. "I want the police to investigate the authenticity of the video, who has been spreading the video and also the 'actors' involved," he said, adding that their "acting was not very good".